Latest news with #TaumataArowai
Scoop
3 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Is This The Lowest Rates Rise In The Country? Whanganui Council Holds Firm On 2.2 Percent
Whanganui District Council is sticking to an average rates increase of 2.2 percent following deliberations on its draft Annual Plan. Mayor Andrew Tripe believes it's the lowest rise in the country for the year ahead. The plan for 2025/26 will go before the council in June to be adopted. Tripe said the council has focused on doing the basics well, investing in core infrastructure, and involving the community in decision-making. The big topics thrashed out by the council in this week's deliberations were creating a standalone housing entity to grow housing stock, adopting a new strategy for Whanganui, changes to fees and charges, and increasing loan repayments. In each case, community feedback aligned with the council's preferred options. On Thursday, the council confirmed it would: Continue to consider a standalone housing entity Consider all submissions and feedback to inform any minor changes ahead of adopting the draft Strategy for Whanganui Proceed with proposed changes to fees and charges for the year ahead Pay off an additional $590,000 of debt. Operational budget changes have also been made since the council opened its draft Annual Plan 2025/26 for consultation. This includes water levies set by water services authority Taumata Arowai to recover the cost of regulatory functions. These levies will take effect from 1 July, 2025 and are expected to cost around $16 per household. Tripe said it was "incredibly frustrating" to receive news of the levies just as the council was about to adopt its budgets for the year ahead. "It is yet another example of central government shifting costs to local councils and communities - when it should be administered and funded at a national level." These levies, along with proposed Commerce Commission levies, would be incorporated into the Annual Plan budget for 2025/26 and would affect three waters rates for connected households. To ensure full transparency, the levies would be identified on rates notices. However, they would not increase overall rates due to additional income from other council revenue streams. The Annual Plan will be adopted on 26 June, with the plan taking effect from 1 July.
Scoop
06-05-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Masterton Council On Track, Report Says
Masterton District Council has achieved 100% of its non-financial measures this quarter, putting the organisation in good stead for its annual report audit. The results were measured across several areas: roads and footpaths, water supply, wastewater, stormwater, solid waste, community facilities and parks, and regulatory services. In total, there were 41 measures across the seven activity areas, and of the 35 measures available to report this quarter, the council achieved all of them. Mayor Gary Caffell said all too often, 'the great work of council staff goes unnoticed'. 'These stats highlight just how well they perform in so many areas. 'Maintaining our water and roading services to a high standard is always a major priority for council and it is particularly pleasing that our response times are where we would want them to be, and are actually exceeding expectations in some cases. 'The challenge now of course is to keep up the good work, and I am confident staff will do exactly that.' Some measures were only reported at the end of the financial year and were not included. A report to the council's Audit and Risk Committee, which would meet on Wednesday, said roading performance measures related to customer service response times, with all 37 urgent requests responded to within two working days. Masterton's wastewater services were also performing 'consistently well' with all measures on track for year-end achievement. The sewerage overflow response time was 24 minutes, no portaloos were provided this quarter, and there were no consent breaches. In the solid waste space, all waste facilities, including urban and rural transfer stations, recycling and composting facilities, and landfills, remained fully compliant with resource consent conditions. The amount of waste sent to landfill per person is tracking lower than the same time last year - 0.429 tonnes versus 0.469 tonnes - and was currently on track to meet the target of a 3.3% reduction by year-end. Urgent customer service requests for parks and open spaces decreased this quarter, with 21 classified as urgent compared to 32 last quarter. Drinking water was also fully compliant with Taumata Arowai standards. The council also achieved its measures for regulatory services, but it should be noted that the council's target is to process building consents, resource consents and code of compliance consents within statutory timeframes 90% of the time. Statutory timeframes were legally binding. The council's annual report and performance would be audited at the end of the financial year. – LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
NZ Herald
03-05-2025
- General
- NZ Herald
Kāeo water compliance under scrutiny by national regulator Taumata Arowai
The Far North town was placed under a boil water notice in 2015, after a public health notice declared Kāeo's water supply temporarily unsafe and advised drinking water should be boiled for two minutes. Taumata Arowai urged residents to adhere to the notice until Wai Care Environmental Consultants Whangaroa provided safe drinking water. Taumata Arowai said it spoke to the supply owner earlier this year to inform him that the authority was initiating a Drinking Water Safety Plan review. Then followed a letter to the owner outlining the expectations for achieving compliance with the Water Services Act 2021 for Kāeo. 'If our expectations are not met, we may take additional action in line with the regulatory approach in our Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement Strategy.' The authority said in circumstances of significant non-performance or persistent failure to comply with legislative requirements it could require the territorial authority to take action or appoint the territorial authority to take over management and operations of a drinking water supply. Wai Care director Bryce Aldridge said he and the authority have had positive communications as he works to lift the notice. He claimed the discussions were the first since the authority went quiet on him six months after its establishment in March 2021. Aldridge said he was making steps towards lifting the notice, and was open and transparent with his clientele. He had been discussing a payment plan with a supplier of an 'expensive piece of machinery' needed to lift the boil notice. " ... I am waiting to see what they say.' However, Aldridge said lifting the long-running boil water notice may not be as simple as upgrading equipment. He claimed the price of water may rise. '... Do they really want the boil water notice lifted?' He said he was now waiting for the authority to get back to him on the safety plan. Taumata Arowai was scheduled to meet with Aldridge on March 26, however, it indicated Aldridge cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. The authority is in the process of rescheduling the meeting.
Otago Daily Times
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Otago Daily Times
Fears waterways at risk from wastewater plans
A government plan for national wastewater disposal standards is being met with local concern it could harm waterways. The plan, proposed in a Water Services Authority — Taumata Arowai consultation that ended yesterday, could end regional councils' ability to issue disposal consents with higher standards that are considerate of local environmental impacts. An official response from the Otago Regional Council is expected to flag that the plan risks a "one-size-fits-all approach". A draft response from the Dunedin City Council, which has been given an extension to May 1 to respond, has expressed concern that resource management instruments, prepared with mana whenua and communities, would be "over-ridden" and result in a "more permissive" approach to discharges to water rather than land. There needed to be a "backstop" opportunity for community engagement, it said. The Environmental Law Initiative (ELI), a charity run by environmental lawyers, said the proposed standards risked further decades of sub-standard wastewater disposal to water bodies. The charity flagged the Local Government (Water Services) Bill, which is progressing concurrent to the development of the standards, would give the power to set the standards to ministers rather than Taumata Arowai. ELI legal adviser Reto Blattner de-Vries described the proposed changes as having "massive implications" that would "entrench" lower-cost wastewater treatment plants that would be given 35-year consents. The changes would "allow councils to put their hands up and absolve themselves from pursuing culturally-appropriate discharge solutions which differ from the status quo, such as changing a discharge to water to a land-based discharge." Councils would not be able to decline an application for a discharge consent for a wastewater treatment plant that met the standards even if it contributed to various adverse effects listed in s107 of the Resource Management Act, he said. "A proposal of this gravity should be highlighted more by government ... The proposals take away localised discretion by councils which will mean councils won't have incentives to work with communities to find local solutions." ORC deputy chairman Cr Lloyd McCall said the ORC had submitted a comprehensive submission on the proposed wastewater standards and councillors had been given opportunity to input. The submission had, overall, supported a drive for efficiency in dealing with wastewater, but also outlined concerns around the protection of coastal and freshwater environments. "A proposed definition of pristine in its current form would not protect our highly valued lakes and their tributaries from degradation. The submission highlights this unintended consequence of a one-size-fits-all approach to water quality expectations." He said there was a need for rationalisation of wastewater management and regulation and it was also "essential that there is the ability for significant local community input into the receiving environment's water quality visions and outcomes." Cr Alan Somerville said: "The whole drive is to come up with standardised solutions that don't take into account environmental conditions and community aspirations for environmental protection. "This doesn't allow for particular local circumstances." He called for consideration of disposal to land, as a more mana whenua culturally appropriate response, and an end to an acceptance that wastewater could be dumped in the ocean without treatment if there was an overflow situation. The DCC has four resource consents that allow it to discharge wastewater overflows to freshwater and the ocean. Overflows can occur when wastewater pipes get inundated with stormwater. In South Dunedin, overflows have been channelled down a pipe called the "contamination vector" leading into the harbour and have sometimes flowed out on to Surrey St. Cr Andrew Noone said the government needed to now "set the bar high enough to ensure it was environmentally sustainable and doesn't cause greater degradation than we have currently got".
Otago Daily Times
25-04-2025
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
'Very relieved': Greymouth boil water notice finally lifted
File photo: Getty Images A boil water notice for Greymouth and the surrounding areas has been lifted, more than two weeks after it was put in place. The boil water notice was brought in on 9 April after Coliform bacteria and low levels of E Coli were detected in test results. The Grey District Council says it received a revised direction from the water regulator, Taumata Arowai earlier this week. It said checks of the water treatment facility yesterday and this morning determined the council now complies with the requirements. The source of the contamination is still not known, and the investigation is continuing. Council group manager operations Kurtin Perrin-Smith said the council is considering all potential areas of concern in its overall investigation. Mayor Tania Gibson said it had been stressful for the community and council, and thanked everyone for their patience. "We know it hasn't been easy. We are very relieved." She said looking for the source of the contamination had been like looking for a needle in a haystack. On Wednesday, Gibson said their water had tested clear for five days. She said there had also been no reports of sickness as a result of the water contamination.
